The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Mohammed Bagheri, vowed Friday to respond to any “hostile actions” targeting Iranian drones, Iranian news outlets reported.

The threats followed Wednesday’s shooting down of an Iranian drone that was reportedly heading toward the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Erbil. Earlier this week, Iran unleashed a wave of missile and drone attacks against Iranian Kurdish opposition forces based inside the Kurdish region, killing at least 14 people, including a pregnant woman and a US citizen. It was among the deadliest spate of such attacks in recent years.

The attacks came amid mass protests across Iran triggered by the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The Iranian Kurd perished after being severely beaten by Iran’s dreaded morality police. Iran’s clerical regime has sought to paint the tragedy as part of a foreign plot designed to destabilize the Islamic Republic, with the Kurds serving as willing pawns.

In a televised interview, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi said the United States was behind the unrest. “We should not allow the enemy to weaken our national unity,” he said.